It's a Mortal Thing
by Amanda Marie Johnson
Summary: What happens when the Charmed Ones come across a problem that can't be fixed my magic? RR


Piper rocked her two-year old daughter in her arms as she looked out the window at the rain that fell heavily from the dark sky. She heard the grandfather clock from downstairs strike midnight as another round of thunder hit and lightning came shortly after. Looking down at little Melinda and noticing she was asleep she stood up and carried her to her crib and laid her down, covering her up with a blanket as Paige walked into the room.

"She finally asleep?" Paige whispered.

"Yeah, that cold really got to her" Piper whispered back as they waked out of Melinda's room together and she shut the door. "Did you talk to Phoebes?"

"Yep, she was complaining" Paige smiled.

"Again?"

"Yeah"

"What this time?" Piper asked. The girls walked downstairs to where Wyatt and Chris were playing a video game.

"About being fat" Paige told her and Piper chuckled.

"Boys it is way past your bedtime, let's go, upstairs now" Piper told her sons.

"But mom!" Wyatt complained.

"I mean it now, come on, go brush your teeth" Piper repeated and the boys groaned, but went upstairs as their mother told them.

"Don't worry, I explained to her that that's completely normal" Paige said as she sat on the sofa and Piper cleaned up the boys' mess and joined her.

"I can't believe we're gonna have another baby in the family" Piper smiled. "And it's Phoebe's first."

"Yeah, it's gonna be great" Paige said as Billie walked into the house. "Billie."

"Oh, hey, Paige, what are you doing here?" Billie asked.

"I should ask you the same thing" Piper said.

"Well I just wanted to get started on this demon thing" Billie said, stepping in the living room.

"What demon thing? We've been demon free for over a month now" Paige said.

"Yeah, but that's usually when things get oogy around here" Billie said.

"Oogy?" Piper questioned.

"You know what I mean, every time the demon activity tones down is usually when something bad happens" Billie said.

"Shh, of course, when you jinx it like that" Piper said and Billie rolled her eyes.

"You guys, I just—"

"Billie, honey listen, I know you love doing this and you get some sort of weird charge from it, but Phoebe's pregnant and stressing and we're really busy around here so could you please just enjoy the time off?" Paige asked and Billie sighed with frustration.

"Fine" Billie said.

"Thank you" Paige said.

"Could I at least go upstairs and look at the book, just to look up some stuff?"

"Fine, but don't wake up Melinda or it'll be you that sits up with her all night" Piper said and Billie shook her head and went upstairs. "Should we be worried about her?"

"I don't think so, she's just doing what I did at the beginning of being a witch" Paige said. "You remember how I was."

"Yeah, but it didn't last this long, it was only a year and a half or so before you wanted a normal life like the rest of us, it's been five years and Billie's still obsessed with all this demon crap" Piper said.

"So maybe we should worry a little" Paige said as they looked at the stairs.

Phoebe turned over to make herself more comfortable and felt a sharp pain in her side.

"Mmm" she grunted, eyes still closed and continued to sleep and another sharp pain hit, this time more intense. "Ow." She woke, sitting up and steadying her breathing and another pain hit her. "Ow." She said again as a contraction hit her hard. "Oh my god" she said and stood up, trying to breathe through the pain and picked up the phone to dial Piper's number.

Piper continued to clean up and the phone rang. She put the toys she was holding in the toy bin and answered the phone.

"Hello?" she said.

"P—Piper" Phoebe said through the contraction.

"Phoebe? What is it? What's the matter?" Piper asked.

"I'm having contractions" Phoebe said. "I don't know if this is right, I'm only 7 months along."

"Okay, honey, we'll be right there, just be calm" Piper told her. "Paige!" she called and then turned her attention back to Phoebe. "Has your water broke?"

"No" Phoebe said, breathing heavily through the pain.

"What is it?" Paige asked, orbing in.

"I think Phoebe's in labor" Piper said. "You need to orb to her, get her to the hospital, I'll wake Leo and tell him what's going on and be there as soon as I can."

"Got it" Paige said and orbed out.

"Phoebe, honey, it's gonna be okay, all right, I'll see you in a bit" Piper said.

"Okay" Phoebe said and they hung up. Piper hurried upstairs to her and Leo's bedroom and shook him.

"Leo wake up" Piper said and Leo stirred and woke.

"Hmm?" he asked turning over to face her. "Piper what is it?"

"Phoebe's in labor, Paige is with her now, I gotta go to the hospital, watch the kids okay" Piper said, getting her jacket and purse from the closet.

"Yeah of course, is she gonna be all right?" Leo asked.

"I hope so" Piper said and left the room.

Phoebe lay in the hospital bed looking at the fetal monitor, listening to the beeping sound of her baby's heartbeat. Paige had gone to get her some ice chips and Piper walked into the room.

"Phoebe, I'm so sorry I got here as soon as I could, traffic's jammed all the way down to Carver Street" Piper said, going to her sister's side. "How are you? How's the baby?"

"They gave me some drugs to stop the contractions, they said they hope it works" Phoebe said.

"Hope?"

"They said there's a slight chance that it doesn't work and they have to deliver" Phoebe said and Piper sighed as Paige walked back into the room with a small cup.

"Here you go, honey" Paige said, handing the ice chips to Phoebe.

"Thanks"

"What do we do?" Piper asked.

"There's nothing we can do" Paige told her. "The doctors are doing everything they can. I called Dex, he's flying back from Michigan, he'll be here as soon as he can."

"Okay" Phoebe sighed and laid back. Piper and Paige took seats on either side of Phoebe's bed.

"So….have you thought of any names yet?" Paige asked in a cheery voice.

"Well….your daughter's name is Melinda Prudence and Paige's little girl's name is Kailie Patricia so I wanted to use grams' name for a middle name for my baby….so I thought of Melissa Penelope Halliwell" Phoebe said.

"Oh, that's cute" Piper said.

"Very cute" Paige added and the fetal heart monitor began to beep frantically and Phoebe bent over in pain.

"Oh!" she cringed, her eyes closed tight.

"What's going on?" Piper asked as she and Paige got up quickly and doctors and nurses began to pour into the room.

"What's happening?" Paige asked.

"The contractions have started again, the baby's in distress" one of the doctors said. "We're gonna have to do an emergency C-section, now."

"Oh my god" Phoebe cringed as Piper and Paige looked around helplessly at all that was happening.

"Excuse us" a doctor said as they wheeled Phoebe out of the room and Paige and Piper began to follow. "I'm sorry, you can't be in the operating room, you'll have to wait in the lobby." Piper and Paige looked on as they wheeled Phoebe away.

"Oh my god" they said in unison.


End file.
